Comments:'Yes this is going to be big.' by ErMurazorSubmitted on 2008-08-23 01:47:19 CSTI fully agree with Brent this is going to be big. LEGO is very huge IP around the world. But I think it all dependence of the system spec. if it is two high is is going to fail. Since usually kids don't have have hottes ( I have they get my old ones when I upgrade :) gaming rig. That's way the WEB based games like RuneScape etc are so big. But when I show videos of Lego universe to may kids they go when can we PLAY!!

'I seriously wanna' start a Free Realms podcast..' by BeauturkeySubmitted on 2008-08-23 19:22:42 CST After all, I'm going to beta it. I would have 6 million listeners. I will RULE ALL.

beau

'Two Will Enter...' by Wilhelm2451Submitted on 2008-08-23 23:29:25 CSTLEGO Universe will dominate completely... at my house at least.

'No time for myself' by telstarSubmitted on 2008-08-24 03:40:26 CSTAll my time will be taken up by playing Lego, Free Realms, and Wizard 101 with my daughter. I won't have any time for the "adult MMO's" - good!

The graphic quality of the console Lego games is amazing. Hopefully we will see the same detail in LU.

'Putting it all together...I think!' by pantognostSubmitted on 2008-08-24 06:57:33 CSTI have read your comments on WAR. I have read that other guy's rebuttals (heartless).
I have to say this:
It is bad for IT professionals to judge computer entertainment!
I can't emphasize enough how far from the mindset of the non IT professional you are. Don't get me wrong it is not a wrong mindset. Just a very different one.
For example me I play games out of pure escapism. I like to devote 4 or possibly 6 precious hours every week on an escape. And I am bored of the lakes and the seas and the mountains. But I want the pretty new sights, the new sounds, the new mechanics the cool new classes (well we can argue about coolness but you get the point)
If a game does that well then I am happy. I would be very happy with AoC if it did that correctly (not well...correctly). I will be very happy if that was achieved well with WAR.
BUT I am not an IT professional. Fortunately I have worked with some in my line of work so I think i can relate to your arguments.
Where I see a nice vista (pun intended! ) you worry about where the lighting comes and how textures are laid out. Where I see a brutal looking Castle you (could) only care about how the spikes on it are all replicated with a simple algorithm for on the spot differentiation. What to me seems original to you it seems Old news.
In that discussion I am reminded about Spore. Spore is exactly the game a game developer would make to play himself. Heavy on customizability, many upper level nnovations, content created by the player etc. Now Will Wright went a bit further and added what i would call metacontent to cater exactly for the large player base that is not IT professionals. Unlockables, rewards, an endgame (A requirement he had to adhere to I am sure to his dismay). To conclude my line of reasoning, you IT lads are usually more interested in an interesting design idea than in the good implementation of existing ones. You are like the some film critics. Having experienced the ins and outs of the industry you simply do not care about how cool "300" really looks to the average Joe.
Now on a tangential but not unrelated matter I had to bring up. Yet once I will reference Mr. Will Wright's Spore. That game was first showcased in GDC 2005 and has been accepted as the single most innovative idea in gaming at the time. When the demo was done mr. Wright was showing a cell stage that contained variable vertebra in the cell stage, flight and contextual procedural attacks in the creature game, house parts that had meaningful properties in-game for the tribal game and even an additional stage called the sim-city stage. All these features were dropped from the final product which comes out in 2008!!!. I wondered why but then the answer dawned on me. It wasn't programming obstacles, it wasn't technical difficulties (they overcame far more serious ones). It was a need for gradual progression. Even from a pure financial standpoint it doesn't makes sense to put all these features in one game and charge it 50 bucks. But even finance aside it doesn't makes sense to incorporate so many changes so quickly to a player base. They sure look cool...but will they be accepted?
So to make my point: All IT professionals working in the gaming industry crave for innovation but inherently know that innovation comes like a stream and not in big gooey chunks. Thus downgrading a game for not being "revolutionary" meant that either you do not know that very cliche truism of the industry(not possible), You are a crusader for overthrowing that cliche (more possible) or...You hope we haven't heard it (most possible).

Big wall of text I know!

'pantognost' by TheRemedySubmitted on 2008-08-24 08:25:22 CSTNot to be a total jerk...

But pressing the enter key twice is your (and all of ours) best friend!

'That and...' by Wilhelm2451Submitted on 2008-08-24 12:14:10 CSTPosting comments to the right thread goes a long way as well. Or did I miss some reference to LEGO Universe in there?

As for "IT Professionals shouldn't judge computer entertainment," I'm going to have to call that a great big cow turd of a theory, being based on a crass generalization/stereotype over how people in a given profession behave.

'Well...he started it!' by pantognostSubmitted on 2008-08-24 12:37:13 CST@TheRemedy To be honest I am impulsive at my writing. It's not that I don't think about it. It's that I think about it after I have pressed post. And then it's onwards to the next post. But in all honesty you are correct.

@Wilhelm2451: My (admittedly long) comment was aimed at his remark that he is "...not changing my tune on WAR". A reference per se to LEGO universe was non-existent, you are correct. But my whole response was based on what he considered revolutionary as opposed to what a large portion of the MMORPG audience can conceivably consider revolutionary. To be honest the moment I saw the LEGO video Will Wright's Spore popped to mind and...so on

Now at that elegant comment about my opinion I am not going to comment more on your style.
What I am going to say is that this opinion was based not on generalization/stereotyping but instead on the written opinion of Brent. In a nutshell what I was saying is that IT professionals have different criteria by which they judge innovation than us mere casual gamers. So their opinion should not be considered expert but rather jaded. I am not going to tire you with repeating my post. If you want read it and see what I mean.

There you have it in small sentences.

And I finally paragraphed!

Maybe even overdid it a bit...

'stereotypes' by SenteSubmitted on 2008-08-24 14:09:09 CST@TheRemedy:
But you are sterotyping IT Professionals here. It is a bit like saying a sportsperson cannot watch cross-country skiing on TV the same way non-sportspersons do.

If you specifically mean Brent, then say Brent.

'getting dizzy' by BrentSubmitted on 2008-08-24 14:42:40 CSTI'm going to have to go ahead and say I don't understand any of this thread ... I really don't see the tie between game commentary and IT professionals ... sorry, the thrust is sort of lost upon me. Trying to piece it together ...

'Sentetypes' by TheRemedySubmitted on 2008-08-24 18:23:23 CST@Sente

I know several IT Professionals and would never question their ability to hit the enter key.

To actually comment on the main topic I have to say if this game is not subscription based it will probably crush Free Realms.

Hey kids! Would you rather build and play in your own virtual Lego buildings or deliver mail?!

P.S. I realize Free Realms is more than that but being sensationalist is rather enjoyable.

'NetDevil' by PeZzySubmitted on 2008-08-24 19:14:34 CSTBear in mind that we are talking about NetDevil.

'Biggest MMO?' by RadarXSubmitted on 2008-08-25 09:49:16 CSTI think you have to define what you mean by "Biggest MMO next year." Are we talking just N. America/Europe or including Asia? It will release into a fairly dry market which is good, but with that age demographic it's going to be niche and won't satisfy the core gamer in my opinion.

I agree with the above commenters....Lego is huge. Many of us will try Lego because...well it's friggin Lego. Who wouldn't want to?

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